


Bed and Elfroot

by JuneLuxray



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 09:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5201447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuneLuxray/pseuds/JuneLuxray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisitor contracts a nasty cold just a week before she needs to leave for Halamshiral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bed and Elfroot

**Author's Note:**

> This was sitting in my drafts for months. I hit a writer's block and toyed with this for an hour and got this. I have a cold I'm coming off of and it seemed appropriate.

It had started in the morning. Dawn had slept in unusually late, considering the Inquisitor got up early every day to start work. She rivaled Cullen in work ethic, and never seemed to mind getting up. Cullen checked in on her only to find her fast asleep. Waking her up for a war table meeting had resulted in her going into a loud coughing fit, combined with intermittent sneezing. Sweat dripped down her pale forehead as the doctor examined her before delivering her verdict to the waiting ambassadors downstairs.

"She's got a bad cold," the healer said, "she told me she was up last night late, with the windows open, doing paperwork...the scouts say she was sniffling yesterday."

Cassandra let out a disgusted noise. "Of course she did. Why wouldn't she contract a cold while working herself to death before the Winter Palace?"

Leliana sighed. "We should have someone stationed by the door. Or else--"

The Inquisitor's door opened, and a sniffling, pale woman came out, hair pulled back. "Sorry I'm late, I'll be to the war table in a min--"

The others recoiled from her, avoiding direct contact. Josephine subtly tried to cover her face with her writing pad. Cassandra glared at the herald. "Go back to bed!" she snapped. "Don't even think about leaving that room today!"

Dawn scowled, giving the seeker an incredulous look. "Why?" she demanded, her voice nasally. "It's just a little thing. I'll be fine."

Cullen scoffed. "I know you. You'll just spend all day running about and not resting. The moment you set foot outside, it's a lost cause to get you to rest."

"I just need to..."

Josephine let out the most annoyed sigh the Inquisitor had ever heard, shaking her head. "Inquisitor," she said firmly, "you do not look good to visiting dignitaries. They do not want to see a sickly, pale woman who should be healing to be ready in time to leave for Halamshiral."

Leliana nodded. "I agree. Go back to your room; you won't be leaving it today."

Dawn scoffed, eyes widened. She shivered and scowled at the four against one, pouting, realizing she wasn't going to win this fight. "Ugh, I..."

"So help me, Inquisitor," Cassandra snapped, "I will drag you back in there if you don't go willingly. I and the advisors can handle your duties today. You must heal, and not spread your cold to the rest of us." 

"...Can I at least do paper--"

" _No!_ " they chorused. Cullen groaned.

"Maker have mercy. Come on." He stepped forth and pulled her by the hand back inside her tower, making a mental note to wash his hand afterward. As much as he loved her, he could not risk getting sick either. Dawn grumbled and followed, muttering curses under her breath (some of them Tevene, having spent too much time around Dorian while he searched in vain for a specific book).

Leliana looked at the other two women. "The Inquisitor is too stubborn to listen. We should have one of Cullen's soldiers stand at the door."

"I'll handle that." Cassandra affirmed. "Perhaps we should send a book up to keep her occupied when she isn't sleeping."

Josephine scribbled down notes on her clipboard. "I'll have runners take everything she could need up there. The Inquisitor must be in shape to leave next week for the Winter Palace."

~*~*~*~

Dawn had fallen asleep after being put back to bed relatively quickly; she was more tired than she cared to admit. When she awoke again, it was with a fit of coughing followed by a fit of sneezing. She opened her eyes when the sound of something sliding across the floor to her got her attention, and she looked down at the side of her bed to find a bag full of clean handkerchiefs.

The Inquisitor looked up and recoiled in surprise at what greeted her: a blue bubble of magical energy surrounding the bed. Dorian stood on the other side of it, arms crossed. Sera and Bull also stood on the other side of it, looking at the Inquisitor quietly. Dawn huffed and coughed again, glaring at the other mage. "What's this?" she demanded, just as nasally as before. 

"Protection spell. So we can visit you and not risk getting sick. It's a little quarantine bubble, just for you!" Dorian said cheerfully, though the Inquisitor could have sworn he looked a little pale and sounded a little stuffed up. Dawn scoffed.

"I feel like an animal in a--" She sneezed. "--menagerie." Dawn fumbled for one of the handkerchiefs and began to cough into it, pulling away with a groan. Sera winced.

"Sick as a dog, you," the elf chided, "the servants said they're bringing you soup or something. Should help clear out your lungs."

"Sinuses, too. Told them to add some spice to it." Iron Bull said calmly. "Tama used to put spice in our food when we were sick as kids. Helped open up stuffy noses."

Dawn frowned. "What sort of spice, exactly?"

"You'll see." Bull replied, nonchalant. As if on cue, a servant came up the stairs with a tray, which looked to hold a bowl of steaming chicken noodle soup and crackers. A tall glass of orange juice accompanied it. Dawn sat up and took the tray from him, giving him a weary smile and genuine thanks. He bowed politely and left, leaving the Inquisitor to look into the soup carefully, trying to figure out what Bull told them to put in it. 

"Just try it," he encouraged, "inhale the steam, too. It'll do you good."

She put her spoon in her mouth and her eyes began to water immediately, nose running. The soup tasted as though fire was in every drop; drinking orange juice did little to alleviate it, and she found herself forced to use ice magic in her mouth to cool it. "What the actual fuck..." She dabbed her nose with a handkerchief, sneezing briefly. "What the _fuck_ did you give them to put in this?"

"Spices," Bull replied vaguely, grinning, "try and breathe through your nose. How are your sinuses?" She inhaled through her nose, realizing that for the first time in hours, it was unclogged. The pressure at her forehead had been reduced. Eyes widening, she realized it was the best she felt all day.

~*~*~*~

Dawn tip-toed out of her quarters later on to fetch elfroot from the garden. At least, she tried. Almost immediately after setting foot on the ground floor, she was set upon by agents she didn't know were nearby. As she was shooed back upstairs, she could have sworn she saw Vivienne's annoyed glare burning into her for a split second. 

Leliana's agents followed her, ensuring the Inquisitor went back into her bed, not that she was happy about it. She had been in bed all day, and knew she was going to get a scolding from either Josephine or Leliana or Cullen or any combination of the three for the mere attempt to head to the garden.

Probably Cullen. Since they had entered a relationship, he had gotten even more worried about her actions, which sometimes seemed reckless.

She laid back in bed, fuming in indignation, looking down at the sheets, so flustered she didn't even notice Vivienne come up the stairs. She didn't notice until something nudged her arm. Dawn looked at her side to see a potion bottle being levitated by magic. Grasping it, she looked up to see the court enchanter standing outside of the quarantine bubble, arms crossed.

"You could have just sent for a servant to fetch you an elfroot potion, darling." she pointed out. Dawn shrugged.

"I've been stuck in bed all day. Walking around wouldn't be terrible for me."

"You forget you have an unfortunate habit of getting distracted and then performing multiple other tasks on the way to whatever you intended to do in the first place." she pointed out. "Drink the potion and go to sleep. You'll feel better soon enough, and you must rest to be ready in time for the Winter Palace."

She rolled her eyes but obeyed. Dawn tilted her head back, disgusted by the taste of the potion as it fell upon her tongue and down her throat. Within moments of taking it, it had the desired effect of relieving some of her cold symptoms. She also felt a sudden drowsiness fall upon her, and realized what Madame de Fer had done to the potion as her eyelids fought to stay open. The Inquisitor blearily glared at the mage.

"You...you've _drugged me!_ "

"Have a nice nap, darling." Vivienne replied nonchalantly, walking off as her friend slipped into slumber.

~*~*~*~

It was pitch black outside by the time Dawn woke up again. The sound of thudding echoed up the stairs, and she looked up to see Leliana pressing Cassandra, Dorian, and Cullen into her room. All were in their sleepwear, looking just as tired and sick and pale as the Inquisitor did in the morning. They were also sharing a glare at the Inquisitor, who shrank back at their gaze.

Leliana pushed them under the quarantine bubble, crossing her arms. "We should have suspected you spread your disease to at least someone else," she explained, "you were kissing Cullen, and sparring several times with Cassandra this week. You and Dorian spent copious amounts of time next to each other in the library. It's a miracle only they've been infected so far. You're all needed for the Winter Palace, so you'll be having a sleepover of sorts up here. Dorian will expand the quarantine."

Dorian coughed and raised his hand, expanding the bubble to most of the room. "Beds for Cassandra and I will be brought up soon, yes?" He groaned as he sneezed loudly, rattling him.

"Maker, I feel horrible." Cullen spoke nasally, sneezing before continuing. "We have to rest to be ready for next week as well. This is awful."

"Beds for you two will be sent up. Cullen and Dawn, you share the bed." Leliana ordered. She smiled. "Perhaps this will be fun! No doubt none of you have had a sleepover of any sorts since you were children."

Cassandra shuddered, glaring at Leliana. "Don't joke, Leliana. I feel as though I am drowning from...ugh." She coughed loudly, covering her mouth as Leliana walked away. She gave another glare at Dawn, who was scooting over while Cullen crawled into the bed. Dorian sighed.

"At least we don't have to..." He sneezed again. "...nevermind."

Dawn's mind was still a little fuzzy from being asleep for so long. A stupid pun she came up with while sick in bed came to mind, and she grinned fiendishly, preparing to tell it. She only paused when servants came up with small beds for Cassandra and Dorian, who settled. The candlelights had been turned out for them to go to sleep when she spoke.

"Everyone?" she murmured. Cullen cuddled up against her, sighing.

"Yes, dear?" he asked. Her grin was hidden in the dark.

"What do you say to a werewolf when he says he can't do something?"

There was a long pause. "...What?" Dorian asked finally, hesitantly. She giggled.

"Lycan't you?"

There were groans from her party members and snickering from Cullen, then squeaking of a mattress and rustling. Footsteps followed, and Dawn felt a pillow whack her on the side of the head. Cassandra's glare was also obscured by the dark. Dawn snickered madly as the warrior gave her an extra hit with the pillow.


End file.
